Electronic distribution of information has gained greatly in importance with the proliferation of personal computers, and has undergone a tremendous upsurge in popularity and importance as the Internet has become more widely available and more popular. With the widespread use of the Internet, it has become possible to distribute large, coherent units of information, such as books, by electronic means. Various sources exist which make books available for download over ordinary Internet connections such as dialup connections. Downloading a book in this manner is relatively slow if downloading is performed through a dialup connection. Books downloaded in this manner are inconvenient to use, because they are typically readable only through the use of a computer. It is possible to print a downloaded book using a computer printer, but this is slow and expensive for large volumes of printing. Moreover, access to different parts of a work when viewed on a computer is provided by searching, or by scrolling back and forth through the work. The quick access provided by simply opening a paper book and thumbing through its pages is not available in a downloaded book read on a computer screen.
Because of these limitations, it is unlikely that a consumer would pay an amount near the full retail price for a downloaded book having these limitations, and the most widespread distribution of electronic books is performed by philanthropic enterprises which distribute books which are in the public domain, or books for which free licenses for electronic distribution can be obtained.
Recently, dedicated electronic book readers have been introduced into the market. The typical electronic book reader is a handheld digital device having an LCD panel and enough memory and processing capability to store several books and retrieve and display a book or portion of a book for reading. This dedicated approach increases the convenience of reading electronic books, and makes it more likely that they will be widely accepted in the marketplace. In addition, a portable electronic book reader containing a number of stored books weighs significantly less than the same number of paper books. This makes an electronic book reader a particularly attractive alternative to the actual paper books in situations such as air travel. A traveler might well be willing to carry an electronic book reader containing a collection of books which would be too heavy to carry if the collection consisted of conventional paper books.
A widespread and convenient distribution system would greatly increase customer acceptance of electronic books. Consumer acceptance will be enhanced if a system can be provided in a place where a customer is likely to frequently go, such as a supermarket, or where having such a system readily available would increase the likelihood and convenience of impulse purchases, such as an airport gift shop or hotel lobby. Acceptance will also be enhanced if the system allows easy access to a wide variety of titles in a single location, with provisions to allow browsing or searching of titles, or other means of finding titles matching customer interests. Acceptance would also be enhanced if the system could be operated directly by the customer. A system which could be efficiently and conveniently operated by a customer would avoid the need for customers to wait for assistance from a retailer employee. A customer operated system would also allow distribution in locations where it was costly or inconvenient to offer in-person employee assistance, and would thus allow for a wider variety of placement locations. Customers could also be served on a round-the-clock basis.
At present, a further obstacle to widespread distribution of electronic books is the problem of piracy. Piracy is not a problem with paper books, as the cost of illicitly duplicating a paper book is typically greater than the cost of purchasing a new copy. With electronic media, however, duplication can be both simple and inexpensive. In the absence of sufficient safeguards, a customer could pay for and download a single copy of a book, and could then distribute illicit copies. Any distribution system for electronic books must include safeguards or other aspects to prevent piracy, or the system cannot be commercially viable.